Worth Saving
by namewithheld
Summary: CBS does something terrible and Adam tries to make it better with a teddy bear blanket...


Title: Worth Saving

Author: Tote

Genre: romance/humor

Rating: PG, but I swear I'll write something rated R soon!

A/N: This story is a big shout-out to all Joan of Arcadia fans: SAVE THE SHOW! Go to and send feedback on the JoA page telling them how much we love it, and be sure to send everything you can think of—postcards, letters, Grace's poem on brightly colored paper—to CBS for June 2nd…don't give up the fight, people! We can still get a third season!

Adam found the front door unlocked and swinging, unheeded in the wind.

Heart thundering in his chest, he slammed it open and ran in blindly, his brain flashing images of his Jane hurt, his Jane raped, his Jane dead across his mind till his hands shook and he couldn't see straight. He heard a cry of pain from the living room—Jane—and was there in two long strides: "Jane!"

And there he saw a scene he would never forget.

Pringles containers, Kleenex and pillows littered the floor. The usually neat and clean Girardi living room looked as though a tornado had hit it. And in the midst of it all was Joan, lying on the couch and muttering, occasionally throwing another balled-up Kleenex, pencil or Hershey's kiss at the television screen.

For a moment, relief hit him: she seemed okay, at least physically, but even as his panic died away slowly, his worry increased. He'd thought he'd seen her at her absolute worst when she smashed his artwork but she seemed even crazier now. Although 'crazy' would not have been the word Adam would've used, or even thought.

He hesitated, unsure what to do for a second and reluctant to go to her with nothing to soothe her (not knowing that Adam's just being there would probably have been enough for Joan) until he caught sight of a soft-looking blanket with a teddy bear motif.

He picked it up and went to her, with a quiet: "hey."

She looked up, startled, and he felt a bolt of pain seeing her close-up: tears streaked across her pretty face and her lips trembled like a little girl's. His first instinct was to hold her, but he waited for her surprise to subside. "Adam…" she murmured, confused, "how did you get in? Nobody's home."

"You are," Adam contradicted her and sat on the edge of the couch, the blanket still in his arms.

Joan smiled at him. "I didn't answer the door." She paused and her eyes flickered to the teddy bear blanket. "What are you doing with my baby blanket?" she murmured, her face softening even more.

"Well, I…" he held it up to show what he was about to do, and then covered her with it. The blanket was too small to cover her feet, so he took those into his lap and rubbed them absently with his hands, trying to think how to phrase the next obvious question.

"They cancelled my show."

He looked up at her face in surprise. "What?"

"My show!" Joan whispered remorsefully and threw another pencil at the TV screen.

"Who's they?" Adam wanted to know.

"CBS!" Joan snarled, scowling. "CBS, which stands for…" she huffed, trying to think of something insulting enough to merit those morons.

"Cowardly bad slugs?" Adam suggested, trying to make her laugh.

She grinned at him and sitting up on her knees, leaned in close to his face, as if just about to... "Go on."

"Uh…" he swallowed, looking away to keep himself from kissing her, "cooties…um, babies, and sissies?"

"Exactly," Joan whispered with a smile and noticing his discomfort, let herself fall back against the couch pillows. Iris, she told herself: Iris, Iris, Iris…his _girlfriend. _She winced.

"What?"

She looked up at him and saw he'd noticed her wince. "Well…" she felt a tear run down her cheek, "there was this really great, sweet, sensitive hot guy on my show and he liked the girl I was rooting for, but then after they kissed at a party, she got all confused and scared and pushed him into the arms of this…horrible, awful girl and everything totally sucked."

"Weird show," Adam commented, avoiding her eyes and looking at the TV.

"Yeah, well, you don't know the half of it," Joan muttered softly. "This girl I was rooting for realized her feelings were much stronger than she'd thought and she tried to be happy for him if he really did love Iris but she hated it, and then she realized she loved him…and now it's all too late."

"Because the show's been cancelled, yo?"

Joan hesitated, not looking at him. "Uh, yeah."

"And the girl was sure she loved him." His voice was deeper than usual and she could feel him looking at her in that intense, wonderful way that would make her cry again if she looked at him again.

"Yeah," she said and concentrated on the teddy bear near the corner of the blanket, trying to ignore the crazy urge to kiss him, even if he was with Baby Voice.

"And the awful, horrible girl…her name was Iris, huh?"

Joan shot up and looked at him, searching his face to see if he'd made the connection. But he was just staring at her face in that inexplicable way and his eyes were tender but she couldn't tell for sure—

"I think…" he looked down at her blanket. "I think the guy loved her too. From the start, before she even liked him. You know, as a friend."

Joan felt hope swelling in her stomach like a balloon. "Adam?"

He looked at her, eyes shining. "Yeah?"

"Would you help me send a lot of feedback and e-mails to CBS on June second so that they'll put it back on TV for a third season?"

Adam laughed softly and nodded. "Sure."


End file.
